


Crossover

by pigeonking



Category: Doctor Who, Marvel (Comics)
Genre: Crossover
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-30
Updated: 2017-03-30
Packaged: 2018-10-12 21:48:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,790
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10500120
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pigeonking/pseuds/pigeonking
Summary: This is the first fan fic I ever wrote for New Who, written towards the beginning of David Tennant's era when we were still getting to know him... which probably shows in my writing...





	

“I want to go shopping!” Rose Tyler declared with unbridled enthusiasm.

The Doctor looked up from the controls of the TARDIS console with a bewildered look across his young looking face. “Shopping!”

Rose nodded, hands clasped together, eyes looking upwards as she considered the possibilities. “In New York, Twenty First Century! I’ve never been before.”

The Doctor straightened up to his full height and turned to face his pretty companion; she was dressed today in blue jeans and a dark pink T-shirt. “We have the entire universe of time and space at our finger tips and you want to go shopping in twenty first century New York? I’d previously mistaken you for somebody with an acute appetite for adventure and exploration! What went wrong?”

“Nothing’s changed. I just want to go somewhere and do something that’s a bit, well, normal for a change. No Daleks, no werewolves and definitely no weird looking cat-nuns! Like you said we have the universe of time and space at our finger tips; the operative word here being _time_ as in we have plenty of it to visit, oh I dunno, the planet of the Mafia Penguins, any _time_ we want to.” Rose argued good humouredly.

The Doctor smiled. “There is no planet of Mafia Penguins. At least, not one that I know of. Alright, shopping it is, but are you sure you want New York? There’s the fully automated DroidMall of Teskos VII if you’re interested?”

“Perhaps another time, Doctor. I’ve kind’ve got my heart set on New York.” Rose replied.

The Doctor rolled up the sleeves of his pinstripe grey suit jacket and busied himself at the controls. “New York it is then! Here we go!”

 

The police box shell of the TARDIS spiralled through the space/time vortex. As it approached a curve in the wormhole a section of the vortex flickered and for a brief moment an opening appeared that hadn’t previously been there. The TARDIS suddenly veered towards this opening and passed through it into another section of the vortex entirely. The rent closed behind it and the time machine continued its journey, its occupants unaware that any change of course had been taken.

 

The bustling streets of New York city in the twenty first century were blissfully ignorant to the arrival of a rectangular, blue police telephone box in a deserted, garbage strewn alley way. A mechanical groaning noise accompanied its gradual manifestation, the light on top flashing spasmodically. Both the groaning and the light ceased when the TARDIS became solidified. The door opened and the Doctor and Rose came out, the Time Lord being dragged enthusiastically by his young companion. He paused momentarily to close the door behind him and then allowed himself to be pulled into the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple.

“I can’t believe it, we’re really here!” Rose enthused as she and the Doctor wove their way around the single minded throng of pedestrians going about their business.

“It is a magnificent city.” The Doctor conceded, “Do you know, I once landed the TARDIS at the top of the Empire State Building. We didn’t stay long though; we were being chased by a Dalek time machine at the time.”

“Was that during the Time War?” Rose asked.

“You know I hadn’t really thought about it before, but it could well have been. The Daleks were sent after me while I was still in my first body; I don’t know if I’ve mentioned this to you before, but this,” he gestures at his body, “Is my tenth now. Back then I was a young man in an old man’s body and now you might say I’m exactly the opposite. I never knew which era the Daleks, sent to _exterminate_ myself and my companions, came from. It’s possible they could have been on a mission during the Time War to try and assassinate me before I had a chance to use any of my regenerations.” The Doctor mused.

“I wouldn’t put it past them!” Rose shuddered involuntarily.

The Doctor pointed at something on Rose’s T-shirt. “What’s that?” he wondered.

Rose looked down. “What?” she asked self consciously. The Doctor flicked her chin with a mischievous laugh.

“That!” he grinned. Rose couldn’t help but laugh with him.

“Oi, you!” she said, punching him playfully on the arm.

“Come on!” the Doctor enthused, “We’re supposed to be here to have fun!” He opened his arms expansively to emphasise his words. “This is Broadway; completely the wrong road to go shopping! We need to go this way!” The Time Lord steered his companion gently towards an alley way. “This is a short cut to the main shops. If you’re really good I’ll take you to see the Empire State Building, only this time I promise you there will be absolutely no Daleks!”

“Don’t worry, Doctor, I won’t hold you to that promise. I’ve been with you long enough to know that _anything_ could happen!” Rose smiled.

They continued arm in arm down the alley, but as they drew near a large blue dumpster two young men stepped from behind it. A tall, skinny blonde guy and a taller, muscular bald Chinese man. The skinny blonde was pointing a gun at them. The Doctor disengaged from Rose and raised his hands. Rose followed his example.

“Your wallet and any other valuables. Now!” Blondie demanded.

“Er, there’s a bit of a problem there. I don’t actually carry a wallet,” the Doctor lowers his right hand and reaches into his pocket. “but I think I might have some Thoros Betan credit notes, redeemable in nineteen different galaxies.”

“Put your hand back where I can see it!” Blondie yelled with a wave of his gun.

The Doctor quickly snatches his hand back into the air, this time clutching a wad of strange looking notes. Rose looks at him. “You mean you haven’t got any Earth money? How’re we supposed to go shopping then!”

The Doctor turned his head towards her. “Universal credit card; never leave the TARDIS without it.” They both return their attention to the gunman at the sound of him clearing his throat.

“Hello? Who’s holding the gun here!” he snarls impatiently.

“Oh you are, without a doubt.” The Doctor replied.

Blondie waves his gun towards the Doctor’s alien money. “Let me see that!”

The Doctor is about to hand it to him when, suddenly, they are all distracted by a strange swishing sound. He and Rose look on in amazement as a slender, sticky grey rope latches onto the gun and then whips it into the air from Blondie’s startled grasp. The same gooey thread streaks downwards to ensnare the two muggers and they too are suddenly snatched upwards out of sight, with yelps of fear and anxiety. The Doctor and Rose look up to see the figure of a man crouched with his feet planted firmly to the wall, dressed in a tight fitting red and blue costume. His face is covered by a red mask with white, mirrored eye pieces and there is a black spider emblazoned on his chest. He is holding the two muggers effortlessly aloft, by the collars of their shirts.

“Hasn’t your mother ever taught you how to play nice?” he drawled in a cheerful New York accent, “If you can’t be good, you’ll just have to go for an early nap!” With those scalding words he knocked the muggers’ heads together and they instantly slumped into unconsciousness. The time travellers watched from below as the man transferred the Chinese man to the same hand as Blondie; holding them both out before him he pointed his free hand at them and pressed upon the palm of his hand with his middle two fingers. The same sticky fluid that they had seen before sprayed out of a nozzle concealed on the man’s wrist and swiftly cocooned the would-be thieves in a web-like substance. The man lowered the muggers gently to the floor on a web line. He then turned his attention to the Doctor and Rose. “No need to thank me, just doing my job. You have a nice day now!” The man pointed his wrist towards the opposite building and fired a web line.

Rose finally found her tongue. “Wait, don’t go!” she called.

The man hesitated.

“You’re Spider-Man aren’t you?” Rose stammered.

Spider-Man saluted. “At your service! What gave it away, my baby blue eyes?”

Rose grinned and giggled girlishly. “Something like that. You see the thing is…” she began.

The Doctor pointed at him accusingly. “You’re not supposed to exist!” he declared.

Rose looked at him. “That’s what I was going to say!”

Spider-Man cocked his head, puzzled. “What do you mean I’m ‘not supposed to exist’?”

“You’re just a character in a comic. You’re not real.” Rose explained, she looked at the Doctor. “This isn’t Earth. This must be some sort of futuristic theme park.”

The Doctor shook his head. “Possibly, but I don’t think so.”

Spider-Man released his web line and somersaulted off the wall to land in front of the time travellers. “Okay, are you two quite sane, because I think I just heard you say I was a character in a comic book. I think you owe me an explanation.”

“It’s true!” Rose insisted, “Your real name is Peter…” Spider-Man quickly put his hand over her mouth to muffle her.

“Not so loud! You never know who might be listening!” he took his hand away from her mouth. “Sorry.” He added sheepishly.

“You’re forgiven.” Rose grumbled.

“I think we should continue this conversation else where.” The Doctor suggested.

 

Meanwhile in a secret underground hideout, elsewhere in New York, the arrival of the TARDIS had been monitored by other eyes. A tall man dressed in a green hooded cloak busied himself at a series of complex controls. The rest of his body was clad in shining metal armour and his face was covered by an expressionless iron mask with slits where his eyes and mouth would be. Cold, malevolent eyes stared out from behind the eye slats. This was the super villain known to the world as Doctor Doom!

“I must locate the source of this temporal disturbance!” he boomed, “It has an energy signature that I have never encountered before, more powerful than anything ever produced on this planet. It must belong to Doctor Doom. It must!”     

 

Spider-Man had relocated the time travellers to the roof of a nearby building so that they could continue talking, away from prying ears.

“Now what’s all this baloney about me being a comic book character and how do you know my secret identity?” Spidey demanded.

“Are you familiar with the concept of parallel universes?” the Doctor asked.

“I’ve been to a few.” Spider-Man nodded.

Rose rolled her eyes with exasperation. “Oh God! Not that old Sci-Fi chestnut!”

“Well I think Rose and I are in one, or I guess from your perspective we’re from one.” The Doctor explained.

“You see, in the universe where me and the Doctor come from super heroes like you and Superman only exist in comics. You’re fictional characters.” Rose added.

“Yeah, I’ve met Superman in another parallel universe populated with different heroes to this one. He’s not so tough. I bet Thor could take him!” Spider-Man said, “Wait a minute, are you telling me that your Earth doesn’t have any super heroes at all?”

“Well, that’s not strictly true.” The Doctor puffed out his chest proudly and grabbed the lapels of his jacket. “They’ve got me!” He chuckled, half to himself. “You know there’s probably some bizarre alternate universe out there where _I’m_ a fictional character. Can you imagine that?”

“And you are?” Spidey wondered.

“I’m the Doctor and this is my lovely assistant Rose Tyler.” The Time Lord replied.

“I’m not your assistant!” Rose protested.

“How did you get here?” Spider-Man asked.

“We came in the TARDIS, my time/space travelling machine. I can only imagine that we must have accidentally slipped through a rift in the space/time vortex.” The Doctor mused.

“Will we be able to get back to our universe, Doctor?” Rose asked.

“I should think so. It’s just a matter of tracing the rift and passing through it again.” The Doctor replied.

“If what you’re saying is true, then I know someone who’ll be able to help you.” Spider-Man ventured. Then suddenly the hero was looking around him for some as yet unseen threat.

“What is it?” the Doctor asked.

“My spider-sense is warning me of danger. You and Rose should take cover!” Spidey warned.

Without warning a green blur leapt up the side of the building and landed feet first on the edge of the roof. The Doctor and Rose saw a tall man dressed in an all over green body suit, rising to his full height from a crouching position. The top half of his face was covered by a green mask with slanted slits for his eyes; he was grinning malevolently. On his back he carried a long metallic green tail, coiled above his head, which ended in a spike shaped nozzle. The tail swayed from side to side as if it was a biological part of the man’s anatomy. The man carried two safety deposit boxes which had recently been liberated from an armoured security van.

“Well, well! Spidey-Man; fancy seeing you here!” the villain leered.

“Who’s that?” Rose whispered to the Doctor.

“You mean you don’t know?” the Doctor whispered back.

“I don’t actually _read_ Spider-Man comics. I saw the film a couple of times. It’s not the Green Goblin is it?” Rose asked.

Spidey bounded to intercept the super villain who unceremoniously dumped the cash boxes before rushing to meet the hero.

“Looks like you’ve been busy, Scorpy! Hard day at the office?” Spider-Man leapt out of the way as a jet of acid gushed out of the villain’s tail.

“Scorpy? What sort of a name is that for a super villain?” Rose scoffed.

“That, my dear Rose, is the Scorpion. Scorpy is just an insulting nick name to wind him up.” The Doctor explained.

“Oh! Why would he want to wind him up then?” Rose asked.

“It throws him off guard so he’s more likely to make a mistake. I do it myself sometimes, in case you hadn’t noticed.” The Doctor replied.

Rose looked at her friend with a mischievous twinkle in her eye. “You’re quite the closet comic geek aren’t you, Doctor!”

“Might be!” the Doctor grinned.

Whilst this exchange continued, Spider-Man continued to dodge the deadly swipes of Scorpion’s tail. He managed to get in under the villain’s defence and landed a couple of powerful blows which sent the Scorpion staggering backwards.

“You know if you’ve just finished a hard day at work, you should really take a nap!” Spidey quipped. He was about to follow through with another punch when he was caught off guard by a blow from Scorpy’s tail that sent him flying back onto the ground.

“It’s you who needs to nap. Permanently!” the Scorpion growled, raising his tail to deliver a killer blow.

The Doctor fished out his sonic screwdriver and pointed it towards the Scorpion’s cybernetic appendage. The screwdriver emitted a blue glow accompanied by a whirring sound. Scorpion’s tail suddenly went limp. Spidey leapt to his feet and punched Scorpy to the ground. “You can get pills for that nowadays!” he said as he proceeded to bind the fallen villain in webbing. The hero turned to face the Doctor and Rose.

“What did you just do?” he asked.

“Sonic screwdriver!” the Doctor brandished the gadget proudly, “I just over rode his cybernetic link to the tail so that he could no longer control it.”

“Do you think you could make me one?”  

 

When the police arrived on the roof in pursuit of the Scorpion they found him trussed up with webbing, the safety deposit boxes resting nearby. There was a handwritten note attached to the Scorpion’s forehead. It read:

 

“Courtesy of your friendly neighbourhood Spider-Man!

And the equally friendly Doctor!”

 

The first cop looked at his partner. “Doctor? Doctor who?”

 

Spider-Man had changed back into his Peter Parker identity and was sitting with the Doctor and Rose in the _Daily Grind_ café, chatting over coffee.

“So, Doctor, if you’re a super hero where you come from what’s your special power? Apart from your sonic screwdriver, of course.” Peter asked.

“Well, I’m really good at running away from danger _very_ quickly.” The Doctor quipped.

“Always handy.” Rose cut in.

“Riiight! And Rose? Is she your sidekick or something? What does she do?” Peter smirked.

“I am _so_ not his sidekick!” Rose fumed.

“She’s just here to make me look clever.” The Doctor teased.

“Okay, what about arch enemies, you’ve gotta have them, surely?” Peter continued.

“Well there was the Master, but he’s dead now. I think.” The Doctor replied.

“What about the Daleks.” Rose reminded him.

“Of course, we mustn’t forget _them_ , but they’re dead now too. I think.”

Peter grinned. “Rule number one about arch enemies, Doc – They don’t stay dead forever.”

The Doctor tutted. “Tell me about it!”

For the duration of this conversation Rose has barely taken her eyes off the young, brown haired man sitting in front of them.

“You know, you really don’t look anything like Tobey Maguire.” She said.

“Tobey Maguire, the actor Tobey Maguire?” Peter said puzzled.

“He plays you in the movie, where I come from.” Rose explained.

“Really? I always imagined being played by Brad Pitt. What about my wife, Mary Jane?”

For the first time, Rose noticed the wedding ring on his finger. “You’re married to her? Er, she’s played by Kirsten Dunst.”

Peter shrugged. “Yeah, she’s hot, but not as hot as MJ.”

The Doctor had finished his tea. “You said you had a friend who could help us. Who might that be?”

Peter smiled. “Oh man, you are going to love this! I’m taking you to meet Reed Richards of the Fantastic Four!”

The Doctor grinned. “Fantastic!”

 

Peter had to become Spider-Man once again for the visit to the Baxter Building, headquarters of the Fantastic Four. The mode of transport was web swinging. Rose and the Doctor clung to the web swinging hero for dear life as they soared and somersaulted across the roof tops. Rose had her eyes tight shut.

“Oh God, oh God! I think I wanna throw up!”

“At least wait until I put you down. I only cleaned this suit this morning!” Spider-Man quipped.

The Doctor was looking around him, wide eyed with wonder, a huge grin on his face.

“Woo-Hoo!!! This has got to be the _only_ way to see New York City!” he yelled.

“Hey! Not so loud, Doc!” Spidey winced.

The Doctor spotted a tall building up ahead, the top of which resembled a giant number four.

“Rose, open your eyes!” he called.

She did so and timidly followed the Doctor’s gaze. There she saw the building, approaching rather rapidly.

“Is that what I think it is?” she asked.

The Doctor nodded. “The Baxter Building; home to the Fantastic Four!”

In a matter of moments Spider-Man was setting them down on the roof of the building.

“Thank God for that!” Rose panted, “Next time we’re takin’ a taxi! Okay?”

Spider-Man walked over to a doorway on the roof.

“There’s an elevator into the building here. I’m one of the few non-Fantastic Four members that knows the code to use it.” He tapped in the code and the door slid open. Spider-Man entered the lift and the Doctor and Rose followed. Spidey pressed the down button. The door slid shut and the lift began its descent.

When the elevator finally stopped the door opened straight into the laboratory of Reed Richards. Spidey and the time travellers entered, the door sliding shut behind them, and the four occupants of the room turned to face them.

“Spider-Man! To what do we owe the pleasure of this visit?” this was a middle aged man with dark hair, greying at the temples. Like the other three, he was dressed in a tight blue body suit, emblazoned with a number four over the left side of his chest. Rose noticed that as he was working on some weird gadget on the bench in front of him, he was reaching for a cup of coffee all the way over on the other side of the room. His arm was stretched out like living elastic.

“I’ve brought some new friends to meet you.” Spider-Man replied.

Rose took in the other members of the Four. There was the man-mountain who looked like his skin was made from yellowy-orange rock, the beautiful blonde woman who looked like she had been poured into the skin tight blue uniform, but most of all she noticed the young handsome blonde guy, who also seemed to have taken an interest in her.

The Doctor stepped forward and shook hands with stretchy-man. “Hello, I’m the Doctor. You must be Reed Richards, or can I call you Mr Fantastic?”

“Pleasure to meet you, Doctor and you can call me which ever name takes your fancy.” Reed smiled.

“Mr Fantastic it is then!” the Doctor enthused.

The handsome blonde guy stepped forward. “Aren’t you going to introduce us to the pretty lady?” he asked.

Rose blushed. “Only if I can be introduced to you first.”

“I’m Johnny Storm, otherwise known as the Human Torch!” Johnny obliged.

Rose shook his hand. “Rose Tyler. So, what’s your special power then, do you help people see in the dark or something?”

“Very funny! Here, let me show you!” Johnny replied, “FLAME ON!!”

Johnny’s entire body became engulfed in flames and Rose backed off with an astonished gasp, just as quickly the flames were extinguished and the hero stood before her, unscathed.

“Wow, that was amazing!” Rose whispered.

They were interrupted by the gravely sound of someone clearing their throat. It was the man-mountain. “Last time I looked, Sue here was the only one of us who could turn invisible! Aren’t you gonna introduce the rest of us?” His voice sounded like his mouth was full of rocks.

“Of course, where are my manners!” Reed stretched his upper body over to put his arms around the final two members of the super team. “This is my good friend Benjamin Grimm, the Thing and this is my beautiful wife Susan, the Invisible Woman and also Johnny’s big sister.”

“Pleased to meet you.” Susan smiled.

“Now, nice as it is to meet the Doctor and Rose, I can’t help feeling there’s some other purpose to your visit.” Reed said.

“Allow me to explain.” The Doctor offered, and so explain he did.

Once the Doctor had completed his explanation he allowed time for the information to sink in.

“Do you mind stepping into my bio-scanner chamber, Doctor? I’d like to confirm your claim of being not human.” Reed requested.

“Not at all.” The Doctor replied, stepping into the glass chamber in the far side of the laboratory. The door closed behind him and Reed activated the scanner. A faint blue light passed across the Doctor’s body and Reed studied the read out on the screen in front of him.

“Well, Doctor, even if you didn’t have two hearts there are enough differences in your physiognomy to support your claims of being an alien. According to this data your body has an enormous capacity for regenerating damaged cells, which must mean that your species is practically immortal.” Reed said.

“That’s right.” The Doctor nodded as the chamber opened and he stepped out again, “Ironic when you consider that I’m the only one of my kind still in existence.”

“Sorry to hear that, Doc.” Said Spider-Man.

“The Fantastic Four have more than a little experience in inter-dimensional travel, Doctor. I think we should be able to help you, but you’ll have to move your TARDIS here, if that’s possible.” Reed continued.

“No problem.” The Doctor replied.

“Ben and I will give you a lift back to where you parked it, if you like.” Johnny offered

“Yeah, we’ll be glad to help.” Ben chipped in.

“That’s great,” said Rose, “Just so long as there’s no flying or web swinging involved.”

“Honestly, she’s usually a lot more adventurous than this.” The Doctor sighed apologetically.

“Don’t worry,” Johnny grinned, “We’re going in the Fantasti-Car. It flies, but you’ll be sitting in a seat like in a normal car. Good enough for you?”

Rose smiled back. “Fantastic!”

“Mind if I tag along? I’m curious to see what this TARDIS looks like.” Spider-Man wondered.

“Why not! I’ll even let you have a short trip in it, if you like.” The Doctor replied.

“Well, I’m glad that’s all sorted out. Sorry to have to run out on you guys, but I’ve gotta go and pick Franklin up from school.” Susan kisses Reed on the cheek, “See you all when you get back.”

And with that everyone went their separate ways.

 

A short while later the Doctor and Rose were riding in the Fantasti-Car alongside Ben and Johnny, with Spider-Man perched on the back. The car looked a lot more like a small, futuristic jet plane than a car and it bore the ‘Four’ logo on either side.

“Now this beats web swinging any day.” Rose enthused.

“Can’t say as I agree.” Spider-Man opined.

“Well, you would say that! It’s not like you have a choice, is it!” Rose teased.

“The TARDIS should be down there!” the Doctor pointed to the street below.

Johnny gave a thumbs up signal and brought the Fantasti-Car into land. As the car touched down the Doctor looked at the empty space where the TARDIS had stood.

“What’s wrong, Doc?” Spidey asked.

“It’s the TARDIS! Someone’s nicked it!”

 

In the New York hideaway of Doctor Doom, the Latverian dictator was in his laboratory, studying the blue box that stood in the middle of the room. He had already tried opening it at the site where it had materialised, but without success. Doom had every intention of redoubling his efforts to gain access to the time machine. He stood back and fired a blast of energy from his left gauntlet to try and force it open. The police box remained unscathed. Doctor Doom seethed with barely controlled anger. He crossed to the nearby control console and pulled a lever. A strange gun-like device descended from the ceiling and swivelled to point at the TARDIS lock. Doom pressed a small red button next to the lever and a thin red beam of light streaked from the device, but instead of burning through the keyhole as intended, the beam deflected back towards the laser emitter and promptly blew it up! Doom smashed his fist angrily into the console, smashing through the panel and exposing a nest of wires.

“It seems if I am to enter this infernal machine I must also acquire its owner.” Doom mused to himself. He crossed to another, undamaged, part of the console with a screen set into it and activated the screen with a flick of a switch. “The operator of this time machine will carry a temporal signature almost as powerful as the device itself. It is this signature that will lead me to him.” Doom’s sensors picked up a signal almost immediately and the Doctor’s location flashed upon the screen.

Doctor Doom smiled beneath his iron mask. “Ah! How appropriate!”

 

Back at the Baxter Building Reed had immediately used his computer to call up the CCTV footage of the alley way where the TARDIS had landed. It had shown Doctor Doom using a teleportation device to steal the time machine. All of the super heroes had been somewhat puzzled by the outward appearance of the police box.

“That’s the TARDIS?” Spider-Man sounded disappointed.

“How do you both fit inside?” asked Johnny.

“It’s bigger on the inside than it is on the out.” The Doctor explained.

“Huh?” said Johnny.

“Don’t worry, Doctor, we will help you get the TARDIS back from Doom. We just need to find him.” Reed assured him.

“That’s not gonna be easy, Stretch. Doc Doom could be anywhere!” Ben pointed out.

“Oh I wouldn’t worry too much about that. If we wait around long enough, he’ll find me.” The Doctor mused.

“Now why would he want to do that?” Ben asked.

“Well now that Doom’s got the TARDIS I’m sure he wants to get in it. To do that he’s going to need me. Now, here’s what I think we should do…” and so the Doctor launched into his plan of action. By the time he had finished everyone knew their part in what was to come and preparations were made.

“Now I’m sure everyone’s hungry,” smiled Susan, “How about I dial for a pizza?”

The outer wall of the laboratory exploded inwards and everyone was thrown aside by the force of the blast. Rose was caught by a stray piece of debris and knocked unconscious.

“Rose!” the Doctor shouted with concern.

Doctor Doom hung in the air, held up by the power of his rocket boots. His gauntlets were glowing with energy.

“You might wanna hold that pizza for a while, sis!” Johnny quipped; he was already in the air, engulfed in flames.

Susan had extended one of her force field bubbles around herself and the unconscious Rose. “I’ll look after Rose, you guys get Doom!”

“Now, now, there’s no need for any of us to fight. Just give me the stranger and no one need get hurt!” Doom drawled. He extended his right hand and blasted the Human Torch into the far wall. Johnny slid to the floor stunned, his flame extinguished.

“You’ll pay for that, Metal Mouth!” Ben growled, launching himself at the villain.

Doom sidestepped the Thing’s charge and snared the man-mountain in a gravity bubble. He pulled Ben towards him and swung him outside so that he was dangling over the open air; then Doom cut off the gravity beam and unleashed a concussive blast which sent the Thing hurtling across to the building opposite where he landed, sprawled in an undignified heap on the roof. Ben was immediately on his feet again and shouting obscenities at the super villain. Doom chuckled and turned back to face Mr Fantastic and the Invisible Woman. And someone else, he was sure there had been someone else.

A grey sticky substance suddenly obscured his vision and a powerful fist connected with his face. The blow sent him spiralling back out through the hole he had created, but he quickly recovered. “Spider-Man!!” Doom cursed as he tore the webbing from his face.

“Long time no see, Doomy! Have you missed me?” Spidey quipped as he hung upside down in the opening.

“I don’t intend to miss you at all!” Doom retorted with a double handed energy blast.

Spider-Man ducked back into the building, seconds before the blast would have hit him.

Doom powered back towards the hole and dodged to one side as Reed’s fist stretched out to meet him. As he entered the laboratory he anticipated another attack from Spider-Man and blasted the wall-crawler as he pounced from the ceiling. This time Spidey was caught by the blast and he joined the Human Torch against the far wall. The only difference was that Spider-Man retained his consciousness and staggered groggily to his feet.

“Is that the best you can do?” he slurred.

“Enough of this petty resistance! It is time I took what I came for!” Doom thundered. He discharged powerful tendrils of electricity from the tips of his gauntlet and stunned Reed, Spider-Man and the Doctor. Only Susan and Rose remained protected by their force bubble. Doom ignored them as he crossed to the prone figure of the Doctor. He picked him up and slung him across his shoulder. Rose had recovered consciousness and was straining to get out of Susan’s force field.

“Leave the Doctor alone!” she yelled.

“Don’t worry, Rose. We’ll get him back!” Susan assured her.

Doom paused in the opening and turned to face them. “Do not delude the girl, by the time you are able to even attempt a rescue it will already be too late!” and with those words he was gone.

A few moments later Johnny opened one eye and grinned. “Do you think he bought it?”  

 

When the Doctor came to he found himself manacled to the wall in what appeared to be Doctor Doom’s laboratory. He could see the TARDIS stood in the centre of the room. Doom was standing in front of it holding the Doctor’s sonic screwdriver to the lock, trying to open it. The Doctor smiled. “That’s not going to work,” he paused for a moment, thinking. “What do I call you? Not ‘Doctor’ ‘cos I’m the Doctor, so that just leaves us with Doom. Doom!” he rolled the name around his tongue experimentally, “No that won’t do. Can I call you Victor, Victor?”

Doom turned on him angrily. “Enough prattling! How do you get into this… contraption?”

“How about Vic?” the Doctor continued as if Doom hadn’t spoken.

The villain stormed over and thrust his masked face into the Doctor’s threateningly.

“Whilst you were stunned I searched your pockets for a key. I found only this!” he held up the screwdriver, “Where is the key?”

“Come now, Vic, if you just wanted my key you could’ve taken it from me at the Baxter Building, you didn’t need to bring me here. The fact that you did bring me here means that you need me just as badly as you need my key. So it would make sense not to hurt me wouldn’t it?” the Doctor reasoned.

Doom stepped back. “It is true that learning the secrets of the machine would be easier with your co-operation. But it would not be impossible without it! I am confident that sooner or later your machine would yield its secrets to me.”

“But you still need me to get in it.” The Doctor reminded him.

“Where is the key!?” Doom thundered.

“What if I told you that Rose had it?” the Doctor asked.

“Then I would kill you now and take it from her, dead or alive!” Doom threatened.

“Well I guess it’s a good thing I hid it in my shoe then.” The Doctor replied.

“In your shoe?” Doom sounded incredulous.

The Doctor smiled. “Didn’t think of looking there did you!”

Doom crossed to the control console and activated a switch which released the Doctor’s manacles. The Doctor stepped away from the wall, rubbing the circulation back into his wrists. “Thank you.” He said.

“Give it to me!” Doom demanded.

The Doctor lifted his right foot and began to remove his shoe. “Can I have my sonic screwdriver back?” he asked.

“The key first!” Doom persisted impatiently.

The Doctor took out the key and quickly squeezed the shoe back on. “Now as I give you the key I want you to give me the screwdriver.” He held out the key tentatively as Doom thrust out the sonic screwdriver with growing impatience. Without warning the Doctor snatched the gadget away and as Doom made to do the same with the key, the Doctor performed a sudden slight of hand and the key appeared to vanish. “And just like magic it’s gone again!” He stepped away from the villain quickly, brandishing the screwdriver like an offensive weapon.

“Confound you, Doctor! My patience is exhausted! You leave me no choice, but to take it from you by force!” Doom raised his right gauntlet which began to glow with energy.

“Let’s see how well your weapons work when I do this!” the Doctor activated the sonic screwdriver. His face fell with dismay when the glow did not fade. He threw himself to one side just as Doctor Doom unleashed a concussive blast that would have killed him out right, had it connected.

“Time for plan B!” the Doctor grumbled as he legged it behind the TARDIS, just in time to dodge another blast. As Doom strode purposefully towards him, the Doctor made his way round to the front of the TARDIS. He quickly produced the key from up his sleeve and inserted it in the lock, turning it. The TARDIS was now open, but before he could enter the Doctor was grabbed and hoisted into the air by Doom.

The villain stared him in the face. “Thank you, Doctor. Now you can die!” He raised his gauntlet, blue sparks dancing menacingly upon it. The Doctor closed his eyes.

His life was spared by the interruption of a loud clanging noise as something heavy slammed into the metal doors of Doom’s laboratory. The dictator slung the Doctor to one side and turned to face the doors.

“Who dares?” he boomed angrily. The doors buckled again and then suddenly slammed inwards, almost torn completely from their hinges. Ben Grimm towered in the doorway, mighty fists raised ready for a fight.

“It’s clobberin’ time!” he growled before charging into the lab towards Doctor Doom. He was closely followed by Johnny, Reed and Susan and then finally by Spider-Man.

“How did you find me so quickly?” Doom wondered as he unleashed the electrical charge he had intended for the Doctor at the Thing. Ben twisted to one side with an agility that defied his bulky size and the electricity missed. Before Doom could unleash a further attack Ben slammed into him and sent him flying in through the open TARDIS door; the momentum carried him in as well.

The Doctor had just staggered groggily to his feet. “Oh no! Please don’t start fighting in there!” he pleaded.

Ben and Doom did in deed stop fighting, but only because they were amazed to find themselves lying sprawled in the vastness of the TARDIS control room.

“Well would ya look at that!” Ben said with wonder.

Doom was already on his feet again. “Magnificent!” he declared.

The Thing was on his feet too now and he grabbed Doom by the scruff of his cloak. “It ‘aint yours, Doom!” he swung Doom around and slung him out again through the TARDIS doors. Ben stepped out in his wake and the Doctor was there to close the door behind him. As Doom had come flying out of the TARDIS Spider-Man had snared him in a tangle of webbing. “Who ordered the Latverian dictator to go?” he quipped.

Doom was on his knees, his arms bound by the webs. “Fools! You think this can hold me, Doctor Doom!!” he flexed his cybernetically enhanced muscles and snapped the webbing as if it were rice paper. Doom was on his feet again, but Reed was stretching his arms and wrapping them round the villain in an effort to restrain him.

“You’re not getting away that easy!” Reed assured him.

“My dear, Reed, I don’t want to get away! That machine is mine!” Doom released an electric charge which forced Mr Fantastic to release his grip and back off warily.

Johnny flew around Doom, enveloping him in a circle of fire.

“To get the TARDIS you’re gonna have to go through all of us! Are you sure you’re up to that?” he taunted.

Doom stepped, unconcerned, through the flames. “So be it!” he rasped.

“Pile it on, team!” Reed commanded. The Fantastic Four and Spider-Man hit Doctor Doom as one with fists, flames, webs and energy blasts. Doom held his own under the combined onslaught, keeping them at bay with his weapons and force fields.

Reed stretched his head round to face the Doctor. “Take the TARDIS and get out of here! Take it back to the Baxter Building! We’ll hold him as long as we can!”

“Righto!” said the Doctor. He ran to the TARDIS and unlocked the door.

“NO!!!” Doom roared as he saw the Doctor enter the time machine and close the door behind him. With a burst of concussive energy he succeeded in throwing off the combined heroes and strode purposefully towards the TARDIS. “It’s mine!!” he bellowed furiously. The light on top began to flash and the groaning noise started up. As Doom was about to pound his fist on the door the police box faded away. With a roar of anger he turned once again to face the heroes. And then suddenly with a hum of energy he teleported away.

 

“So, if you’re the son of Mr Fantastic and the Invisible Woman does that mean you were born with special powers or something?” Rose asked through a mouthful of cookie dough ice cream. She had been left behind to baby sit Franklin Richards and they were sat in the kitchen eating ice cream. “Can’t I come with you?” she had asked Reed before he had left to follow the Doctor’s signal along with Spider-Man and the rest of the Fantastic Four.

“You don’t have any powers, Rose. If you come along we’ll only have to protect you. You can stay here and look after Franklin.” Reed had answered. Now Mr Fantastic’s young son was licking chocolate chip ice cream from a very large spoon while he considered her question.

“I do have special powers, but I can’t really use them. I’ve kind’ve blocked them out mentally so that they’re like sleeping in my head.” Franklin replied.

“Why would you wanna do that?” Rose wondered.

“I’m just a kid; I’m not ready for the amount of power that I’ve got. And also there’ve been some really bad things that’ve happened because of my powers. One time, there was this real bad super dude called Onslaught, he was this guy made up of negative psychic energy, accidentally created by Professor Xavier – he’s that guy from the X-Men. Any way he kidnapped me and wanted to use my power to change the world to how he wanted it, but mum and dad, uncle Johnny and uncle Ben teamed up with the Avengers and the X-Men and were able to stop him. The thing is, everybody thought that my family and the Avengers were killed in the battle, but it turned out that I’d accidentally transported them to an alternate reality which I had created with my powers. They came back eventually, but since then I’ve tried to keep my powers in check until I’m old enough to understand how to use them.” Franklin explained.

“Wow, you must be really powerful if you could do all that!” Rose said.

“So what’s it like travelling with the Doctor?” Franklin asked.

Rose paused and smiled wistfully. “How long have you got?” she laughed.

A bright yellow flash filled the room and suddenly Doctor Doom appeared before them.

“It seems that the Baxter Building’s defensive force field must still be crippled from my earlier attack.” Doom mused to himself, then he turned his attention to Rose. “Where is the TARDIS!?”

“It’s not here.” Rose stammered, staggering from the table. She grabbed Franklin and pulled him behind her.

“It seems I have arrived before him. No matter, I can wait. And with you, my dear as a hostage, the Doctor will have no choice but to hand the TARDIS over to me.” Doom sounded pleased. He advanced menacingly towards Rose and Franklin.

Franklin pulled himself from behind Rose. “No! I won’t let you touch her!” he shouted, this time _he_ pulled Rose behind _him_.

“Franklin, I thought you said your powers were sleeping inside your head?” Rose protested.

“The girl is right, child. Don’t be foolish. I have no wish to harm you.” Doom chided. He reached out his hand to grab Rose.

“Stay away!” Franklin cried, he flung out his hand and a wave of power pulsed through his arm and flung Doom across the room into the kitchen table. The villain lay shocked and dazed among the splinters of the table as Franklin moved to stand over him.

“Get out of my home!” Franklin ordered. He pointed at Doom again and the villain disappeared.

“What did you do to him? Where did he go?” Rose wondered in amazement.

“I sent him back to Latveria, where he belongs.” Franklin replied.

“How did you do that? I thought…” Rose began.

“I don’t know. I just knew I had to do something. The rest just seemed to… happen.” Franklin tried to explain.

Rose looked around as a familiar sound filled the air.

“It’s the TARDIS. Come on, the Doctor’s back!” she took Franklin by the hand and led him out of the kitchen.      

 

A short while later everyone was gathered outside the TARDIS which had landed in the middle of Reed’s laboratory. They had all just come out of the time machine after the Doctor had given them a tour of the control room. “There are other rooms I could show you beyond that, but that would take more time than even I’ve got.” The Doctor laughed.

“That’s alright, Doctor. We really should start rebuilding the outer wall of the laboratory anyway.” Reed said.

“How many times have we had to repair this place now?” Johnny grinned.

“More times than I can remember.” Susan replied.

“Well, I guess we’d better be going then.” The Doctor declared, clasping his hand on Rose’s shoulder.

“I never did get to go shopping!” she sighed wistfully.

“I’ll make it up to you, I promise. Let’s just concentrate on getting back to our universe, eh?” the Doctor assured her.

“The dimensional transference component that I installed in the TARDIS console will get you back with no problems at all.” Reed told him, “It really is a magnificent feat of temporal engineering. Your people must have been brilliant scientists.”

“They were.” The Doctor smiled sadly. “Thank you for your help, Reed.”

“You can also use the component to return to our universe any time you might want to come back for a visit.” Reed hinted with a smile.

“Just try keeping us away. Only, we might call ahead first, just to make sure that Doctor Doom is on holiday before we come.” The Doctor grinned.

“I don’t think he takes them.” Ben chuckled.

“Well, goodbye everyone.” The Doctor waved his hand expansively to include the Fantastic Four, Franklin and Spider-Man. He turned to Spidey. “Are you up for a little trip?”

“I couldn’t, Doc. My wife would kill me and this city needs me.” Spider-Man replied with a little reluctance.

“I understand.” The Doctor smiled. He turned and entered the TARDIS.

“Bye everyone!” Rose waved. She knelt down and gave Franklin a kiss on the cheek. “See ya, Squirt.”

“G’bye, Rose!” Franklin blushed.

Rose followed the Doctor into the TARDIS and closed the door behind her.

A moment later the light on top began to flash and with a mechanical grinding noise the police box faded away.

 

** THE END. **


End file.
